Games

There are hundreds of free, open-source games available in (K)Ubuntu. Most (including the KDE Games collection and the Gnome Games collection) can be accessed through the Games section of your Package Manager.

Pyscrabble (and pyscrabble-server) -- online Scrabble game and server (sudo apt-get install pyscrabble pyscrabble-server) (Also see Lexulous and the Internet Scrabble Club for browser-based online games similar to Scrabble. Internet Scrabble Club requires Java: sudo apt-get install default-jre . It also requires firewall port 1325 to be open inbound/outbound.)

Wing Commander Privateer

Vdrift

Vdrift is a free open source 3-D racing game, similar to Need for Speed, with realistic physics, multiple drift tracks, and multiplayer games. Support for joysticks, mice and keyboard is included. A binary package for Linux is available from the website.

Action

Incredible action games (including those from the Top 25) are available in Ubuntu. Many can be installed using:

Nexuiz -- an open-source multi-player first person shooter game with free servers and tournaments. (Package: nexuiz) (Server: nexuiz-server) A 35 map add-on community pack is also available here. To install it, extract the map pack to /home/username/.nexuiz/data (or ~/.nexuiz/data ).

Note: Many of these games require advanced graphics. Make sure you have the necessary hardware drivers activated.

UrbanTerror

UrbanTerror is a multiplayer first person shooter action game (with an integrated server). It uses the open-source quake 3 engine and features many real weapons and free-to-use servers for multi-player functionality. "Not recommended for adolescents in Germany." Download and install the binary using these instructions.

Doom

Skulltag

Skulltag is an updated version of ZDoom that includes network play. It is now known as Zandronum. See the Zandronum wiki for simple (K)Ubuntu installation instructions. (You can use the Freedoom Iwad (see below) if you don't have an original Doom2.wad.) Note: Most of the modules require dependencies from the Universe repositories. Make sure you have the Universe repositories enabled (Synaptic Package Manager -> Settings -> Repositories -> Edit Software Sources -> Community-maintained Open Source software (universe) -> (ticked)).

If you wish to use Midi for sound (optional), install some prerequisites :

sudo apt-get install timidity timidity-interfaces-extra

If you need more help (regarding the Zandronum-server, firewalls, and port forwarding with Zandronum/Skulltag, for example), see these additional tips.

Zandronum/Skulltag runs on any platform, with any graphics, and on almost any computer. There are thousands of add-ons, maps, and gameplay modes, giving a nearly endless variety of gameplay. The interface makes obtaining and playing the modifications very easy. This is my favorite game of all time (and I have been playing it for years).

PrBoom

PrBoom is a free open source port of the original first person shooter action game, Doom2. It does not have the advanced options of ZDoom. Freedoom is a free Iwad (set of maps) to replace the original Doom2.wad.

or alternatively, use the /usr/share/games/doom folder, giving universal privileges to the folder:

chmod -R 777 /usr/share/games/doom

Place your doom2.wad, tnt.wad, or plutonia.wad (from your original game) into this folder. If you don't have one, you can copy the Freedom version of doom2.wad from /usr/share/games/freedoom into this folder. Place any new .wad's you have downloaded from the Internet into this folder as well. Then run the game using both the original iwad map as well as your new .wad map (you will only see the new map).

Regnum Online

PlaneShift

PlaneShift is a free full-immersion online fantasy game (MMPORG). Client downloads and patches are available here.

Make the downloaded binary installation file executable:

cd /directory_where_downloaded
chmod +x PlaneShift-v0.5.4-x64.bin

Run the executable binary as root (this must be done from the command line Terminal):

sudo ./PlaneShift-v0.5.4-x64.bin

Follow the instructions for installation. When prompted whether to manually set permissions, answer "no."

During installation, most users have recommended installing this game to your /home directory as a single user installation, instead of to /opt for all users. This avoids permissions problems. I was able to install to /opt, but it takes some effort.

To run it from the menu, I had to edit the menu entries by checking the box: "Run in terminal."
Alternatively, run it from the command-line Terminal:

sudo /opt/PlaneShift/pssetup
sudo /opt/PlaneShift/psclient

Notes: This game ran very slowly for me on a 32-bit installation with a DSL connection and I gave up. The 64-bit installation worked better.

Game Emulators

DosBox (DOS emulator)

DosBox is a DOS emulator that enables older DOS programs (and games) to be run. Install:

sudo apt-get install dosbox

Tweak the DosBox settings if necessary. For more info, read the DosBox instructions (man dosbox in a command-line terminal).

Dolphin (Wii emulator)

The Dolphin emulator is an open-source cross-platform Wii emulator that allows many Wii game disks to be run on many operating systems. (Whether the Wii Netflix disk will run under the Dolphin emulator has not yet been established.) (The Dolphin-emulator has no relationship to the KDE Dolphin file manager). Installation instructions for building the latest version from source code are here. Alternatively (and more easily), a Debian (.deb) package for 64-bit (K)Ubuntu systems can be installed (after downloading) from this location.

Other Emulators

Zsnes is a Super Nintendo game emulator. It is a 32-bit package, so will require a 32-bit system to be installed first when run on a 64-bit system (sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32libs-multiarch). Install: